Bhubaneswar, Mar 14: The Excise Department officials on Friday seized a huge cache of country liquor and raw materials from Salia Sahi in Bhubaneswar and arrested nine persons in this connection.
Excise Superintendent Debasis Patel said, “With Holi round the corner, we have increased our crackdown efforts. During a raid in Salia Sahi, we seized around 1000 liters of liquor and arrested nine people.”
“A team of 25 Excise Department officials is conducting the raid. Many of the offenders are repeat violators, and we are keeping a close watch on them,” added Patel.
Acting on a tip-off regarding the illegal country liquor den, the officials carried out the search operation early this morning and seized a large quantity of country liquor and raw materials before destroying them on the spot.
Till the last report came in, the raid was still underway.
The owner of the liquor den Laxmi Birua, who used to run a grocery shop before this, said that he started the unit a few days ago and now earns Rs 1000-1200 daily. He added that six to seven others have also set up similar businesses.
It is worth mentioning that the Excise Department and Commissionerate Police carried out a major raid in Salia Sahi three months back, shutting down nearly six illegal liquor businesses. Thousands of liters of country liquor were destroyed, and several people were arrested.
